Cindy Sherman - Retrospective (Art Photo Ebook)

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vast and obvious differences, a kinship exists between both artists 1
use of the grotesque and of other devices of comedic horror in bodies of
work with satiric intent. In addition, beyond this particular parallel with
Goya, Sherman's work can be positioned within a lineage of other
related manifestations of the grotesque—in particular, such earlier art historical
examples as the medieval allegories of Hieronymus Bosch,
bizarre mannerist portraits of excess by Arcimboldo, and, in the twentieth
century, the eccentric and eerie manipulations of the figure in the
photocollages and photographs of artists including Hannah Hoch and
Ralph Eugene Meatyard. Literary history offers additional examples of the
grotesque, such as the fairy tale genre and the gothicisms of turn-of-thecentury
author Ambrose Bierce's horror stories.
In seeking to articulate a kinship between Sherman and Goya, I do not
mean to suggest that a direct influence exists between them or that
Sherman has sought to emulate Goya, but rather that upon close examination
of their work a degree of resonance and affinity—a sense of
correspondence—can be found in their imagery, their engagement with
figure 2
Francisco Goya
El sueno de la razon produce
monstruos
Los Caprichos, 1796-1799
figure 3
Francisco Goya
Todos cderan
Los Caprichos, 1796-1799
figure 4
Francisco Goya
No te escapards
Los Caprichos, 1796-1799
Photos courtesy
Norton Simon Art Foundation,
Pasadena, CA
certain social themes, and their parodic sensibilities. Images of
humans with exaggerated animalistic features or bizarre birdlike body
parts, humorously scatological and violent scenes, gleefully gruesome
manifestations of decrepitude and physical and social decay, and a